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Trump honors officer who died helping others in Las Vegas shooting

Las Vegas shooting victims

Hannah Ahlers, 34, of Beaumont, Calif., was killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Oct. 1, 2017, at a country music festival.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Austin Meyer was one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, at a country music festival. Meyer celebrated his 24 birthday in Las Vegas at the country music festival.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Dorene Anderson of Anchorage, Alaska, was shot and killed during a country music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Candice Bowers, one of the people killed in Las Vegas at a country music festival.
Michelle Bolks, AP

Las Vegas shooting victims

Brett Schwanbeck, one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, at a country music festival.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Kurt von Tillow was killed in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Michelle Vo was killed in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Neysa Tonks was killed in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Tara Roe was killed in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Rocio Guillen was one of the people killed in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Brian Fraser was one of the people killed in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Lisa Romero-Muniz was one of the people killed in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Cameron Robinson was one of the people killed in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Lisa Patterson was one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire Oct. 1, 2017, at a country music festival.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Christiana Duarte, 22, of Torrance, Calif., was shot and killed during a country music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
Michael Duarte

Las Vegas shooting victims

Brennan Stewart, one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Sunday.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Nicol Kimura, one of the people killed in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Las Vegas shooting victims

Keri Lynn Galvan, one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Oct. 2, 2017.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

This undated photo shows Austin Davis, one of the people killed in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Andrea Castilla, one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Oct. 1, 2017.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Jordyn Rivera, 21, of La Verne, Calif., was shot and killed during a country music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
Mike Schrader

Las Vegas shooting victims

This undated photo shows Melissa Ramirez, one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Sunday.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Robert Patterson and his wife, Lisa Patterson, who was shot and killed during a country music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
Dennis Kim

Las Vegas shooting victims

Carrie Barnette, 34, from Riverside, Calif., was killed during a country music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Chris Hazencomb (left) with his mother, Maryanne Hazencomb, in this family photo from the early 2000's. Chris Hazencomb was shot and killed in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Kelsey Meadows was one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire at a country music festival.
Courtesy of Greg and Stacy Meadows via AP

Las Vegas shooting victims

This undated photo provided by EFS Advisors shows Steven Berger. Berger, one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Oct. 1, 2017.
Courtesy of EFS Advisors via AP

Las Vegas shooting victims

In this June 6, 2015 photo, U.S. Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Charleston Hartfield of the 100th Quartermaster Company poses for a photo at Rainbow Falls near Hilo, Hawaii. Hartfield was one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Oct. 1, 2017, at a country music festival.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Heather Warino Alvarado, one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Oct. 1, 2017.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Denise Burditus was killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Oct. 1, 2017, at a country music festival.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Bailey Schweitzer is seen in her high school senior portrait. Schweitzer was one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Oct. 1, 2017, at a country music festival.
Makenzie Hollar, AP

Las Vegas shooting victims

Quinton Robbins, one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire, Oct. 1, 2017.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Rhonda LeRocque, one of the people killed in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Bill Wolfe Jr., in Carlisle, Penn. Wolfe was one of the people killed in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

Calla Medig, one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Sunday.
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Las Vegas shooting victims

This Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, photo provided by Tom Day Sr., shows his son Tom Day Jr, with Day Jr.'s family, at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. Day Jr., was one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, at the music festival.
AP

On a trip to visit victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting, President Donald Trump on Wednesday honored a Las Vegas police officer who was killed.

Officer Charleston Hartfield, 34, was off-duty at the concert, but when the shooting began he started escorting people out of the venue, according to a police union official.

Trump, speaking at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, called the officer "a very, very special person."

"Officer Hartfield was a proud veteran, a devoted husband and loving father," the president said. "His death is a tragic loss for this police force, for this city and for our great nation."

Hartfieldlived in Henderson, a southeast suburb of Las Vegas, in a neighborhood with groomed lawns surrounded by palms trees. Friends and family stood outside Hartfield's home Wednesday afternoon, but declined to speak and asked for privacy.

Steve Grammas, president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, said he'd known Hartfield for seven years and that the officer liked to joke around with his colleagues.

"He had a scary demeanor, but that was just a look," Grammas said in a phone interview. "People would say he was the funniest guy."

Justin Burton, 29, Temecula, CA, was shot twice at the Vegas massacre, during two different volleys from the gunman, with the bullets entering his back inches apart and barely missing his spine. He speaks from a hospital bed. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com

Michael Kordich, 34, a firefighter with the San Bernardino County Fire Department, performed CPR on a fellow concertgoer who had been shot, before being hit himself in the arm. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com

A small memorial is growing on the Las Vegas Strip in remembrance of the 59 people who died in the Sunday massacre. Andrea Ybarra-Rojas and her daughter, Anya, 7, explain why they stopped by Tuesday evening, Oct. 3, 2017. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com

Emergency Medicine Doctor Daniel Inglish of Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas, talks Oct. 3, 2017, about working all night on victims of the Las Vegas shooting that were admitted to his hospital. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com

Paul Ford, a retired police sergeant from the Manhattan Beach Police Department, stands in line Oct. 3, 2017, to give blood in Las Vegas in honor of his friend, Rachael Parker, who was killed at a concert there Oct. 1. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com

Jon Dimaya, a Las Vegas nurse, triaged victims of the Las Vegas massacre as they were admitted to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center Sunday night, October 1, 2017, after a gunman opened fire on a country music festival. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com

John Hammond, who lives in an apartment complex very close to the location of the massacre at Mandalay Bay, recounts hearing the shots and then opening his apartment complex to concert goers running in fear down his street. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com

St. George gun shop owner Chris Michel said he sold a gun earlier this year to Stephen Paddock, the 64-year-old Mesquite resident believed to have been the gunman in a mass shooting late Sunday that left more than 50 people dead.
David DeMille/The Spectrum & Daily News

Anthony Luca, 30, Las Vegas, NV, was attending the country music concert across the street from Mandalay Bay when gunshots rang out. He describes the chaos, running for cover and then helping a wounded man into an ambulance. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com

A motion graphic explaining how the events unfolded when Stephen Paddock opened fire from his hotel room on concert goers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival near the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Ramon Padilla, Janet Loehrke George Petras, Jim Sergent USA TODAY

A vigil in Hartfield's memory is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Police Memorial Park.

Grammas said he had spoken to Hartfield's widow and "she's trying to cope with it as best as she can."

He said the department considers Hartfield an officer who died in the line of duty because he began assisting patrons and officers trying to locate the shooter.

"Heroic ones like Charleston put themselves on duty," Grammas said.

Hartfield also was a youth football coach with the Henderson Cowboys.

Stan King, whose son Hartfield coached, said in an interview with the USA Today Network that the officer was "a true American hero."

He was "one of the best guys I have ever met," King said. "I have told my kids just keep living and don't be fearful. There are losers in the world who don't want to see people enjoy their lives. Those people will not win if we just keep moving forward and live our lives to the fullest."

A friend of Hartfield's, Troy Rhett, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he attempted contacting Hartfield after hearing the news Sunday and didn’t get a response.

"I figured he was probably busy helping others," Rhett told the paper. "I don't know a better man than Charles. They say it's always the good ones we lose early. There's no truer statement than that with Charles. … Our hearts have just been very heavy since hearing the news."

Hartfield, a military veteran, had recently published a memoir entitled "Memoirs Of A Public Servant."

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Artist Greg Zanis of Aurora, Illinois, constructed 58 crosses and drove across the country, arriving in Las Vegas Thursday afternoon, October 5, 2017, to install them on Las Vegas Blvd to honor the people killed in the mass shooting. Zanis said he has created crosses for many of the recent national tragedies, Newtown, San Bernardino and now Las Vegas.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Brian Mulligan of Las Vegas, visits the memorial of 58 crosses on Las Vegas Blvd at 4:30 am Saturday, October 7, 2017. Mandalay Bay and the Las Vegas Strip are in the background. Several makeshift memorials have sprung up after the worst mass shooting in modern American history on October 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Marcus Owens, left, Henderson, Nevada, and Shelly Littlejohn, Las Vegas, visit the memorial at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign at 4 am Saturday, October 7, 2017. Several makeshift memorials have sprung up after the worst mass shooting in modern American history on October 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Visitors come to the makeshift memorial of 58 crosses near the Welcome to Las Vegas sign at 4:30 am Saturday, October 7, 2017. Several makeshift memorials have sprung up after the worst mass shooting in modern American history on October 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Visitors come to the memorial of 58 crosses near the Welcome to Las Vegas sign at 4:30 am Saturday, October 7, 2017. Mandalay Bay and the Las Vegas Strip are in the background. Several makeshift memorials have sprung up after the worst mass shooting in modern American history on October 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Skylar Carson, 23, left, gets a hug from Midge Elkins as they visit the memorial of 58 crosses on Las Vegas Blvd at 6am Saturday, October 7, 2017. Mandalay Bay and the Las Vegas Strip are in the background. Several makeshift memorials have sprung up after the worst mass shooting in modern American history on October 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Skylar Carson, 23, Las Vegas, writes on a cross at the memorial of 58 crosses on Las Vegas Blvd at 6am Saturday, October 7, 2017. Skylar was friends with Brennan Stewart, one of those killed. Mandalay Bay and the Las Vegas Strip are in the background. Several makeshift memorials have sprung up after the worst mass shooting in modern American history on October 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Sherri Camperchioli and Jordan Cassel, volunteers from Las Vegas, staple photos of the mass shooting victims on 58 crosses artist Greg Zanis of Aurora, Illinois, constructed. He drove across the country, arriving in Las Vegas Thursday afternoon, Oct. 5, 2017, to install them on Las Vegas Blvd to honor the people killed in the mass shooting. Zanis said he has created crosses for many of the recent national tragedies, Newtown, San Bernardino and now Las Vegas. Mandalay Bay is in the background.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Artist Greg Zanis of Aurora, Illinois, constructed 58 crosses and drove across the country, arriving in Las Vegas Thursday afternoon, Oct. 5, 2017, to install them on Las Vegas Blvd to honor the people killed in the mass shooting. Zanis said he has created crosses for many of the recent national tragedies, Newtown, San Bernardino and now Las Vegas. Mandalay Bay is in the background.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Arliss Gant, 57, Independence, Missouri, becomes emotional while looking at the memorial in the middle of Las Vegas Blvd, across from the scene of the massacre. Gant said it saddned her mood and that she has been more somber than he would have been normally, Friday, October 6, 2017. Moods on the Strip varied five days after the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

People visit the memorial in the middle of Las Vegas Blvd, across from the scene of the massacre, Friday, October 6, 2017. Moods on the Strip varied five days after the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

People visit the memorial in the middle of Las Vegas Blvd, across from the scene of the massacre, Friday, October 6, 2017. Moods on the Strip varied five days after the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Volunteers lay pavers at the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden in the Arts District of Las Vegas on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. The garden has sprung up to help the city heal from the massacre that happened Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Volunteer Jean Green Dunbar of Las Vegas plants shrubs at the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden in the Arts District of Las Vegas on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. The garden has sprung up to help the city heal from the massacre that happened Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Volunteer Monica Lopez-Morales of Las Vegas plants trees at the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden in the Arts District of Las Vegas on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. The garden has sprung up to help the city heal from the massacre that happened Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Volunteer Monica Lopez-Morales of Las Vegas plants trees at the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden in the Arts District of Las Vegas on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. The garden has sprung up to help the city heal from the massacre that happened Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Volunteers Austin Schrimps, left, and Jose Moreno, throw pavers at the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden in the Arts District of Las Vegas, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. The garden has sprung up to help the city heal from the massacre that happened Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Jay Pleggenkuhle is the landscape architect who came up with the idea for the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden in the Arts District of Las Vegas. He works in the garden, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. The garden has sprung up with volunteers to help the city heal from the massacre that happened Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Justin Burton, 29, Temecula, California, was shot twice at the Las Vegas massacre, during two different volleys from the gunman, with the bullets entering his back inches apart and
barely missing his spine. He speaks from his hospital bed. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Michael Kordich, 34, a firefighter with the San Bernardino County Fire Dept., performed CPR on a fellow concert goer who had been shot, before Kordich himself was shot in the arm during the Las Vegas massacre. He talks about the life-changing events from his hospital bed at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, Tuesday, October 3, 2017. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com
Tom Tingle/The Republic

The Presidential limo is parked at the back entrance to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas, moments after President Trump arrived to visit staff and victims of the Las Vegas massacre.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

First Lady Melania Trump looks out the window of the Presidential limo as as it approaches the back entrance of the University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Wednesday, October 4, 2017. President Trump arrived to visit staff and victims of the Las Vegas massacre.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

A memorial is growing on the Las Vegas Strip in remembrance of the 58 souls lost in the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre. Laura Rodriguez and her daughter, Sara Rivero, 23, both of Las Vegas, pay their respects on Oct. 3, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Sara Rivero (right), with her mom, Laura Rodriguez (center), and stepmom Gisell Rivera (left), burn a candle on Oct. 3, 2017, at the memorial site on Las Vegas Boulevard, for friends who died at the concert.
Nick Oza/The Republic

Sara Rivero (right), with her mom, Laura Rodriguez (center), and stepmom Gisell Rivera (left), burn a candle on Oct. 3, 2017, at the memorial site on Las Vegas Boulevard, for friends who died at the concert.
Nick Oza/The Republic

Sara Rivero (right), with her mom, Laura Rodriguez (center), and stepmom Gisell Rivera (left), burn a candle on Oct. 3, 2017, at the memorial site on Las Vegas Boulevard, for friends who died at the concert.
Nick Oza/The Republic

A note written on a postcard is surrounded by flowers at a memorial for victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting on Oct. 3, 2017 in Las Vegas. Stephen Paddock was accused of shooting into a crowd of people at a concert from his hotel room at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Sunday night, resulting in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Sean Logan/The Republic

Sharine Ramos, 25, with her son, Ryden Watson-Beck, 5, burn a candle on Oct. 3, 2017, at the memorial site on Las Vegas Boulevard, for her family member and a friend who died at the concert on Oct. 1.
Nick Oza/The Republic

Shattered windows from Stephen Paddock's room can be seen at the Mandalay Bay on Oct. 3, 2017, in Las Vegas. Police say Paddock shot into a crowd of people at a concert from his hotel room at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Sunday night, resulting in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.
Sean Logan/The Republic

Brian Kip, one the guys who saved more than people in the Las Vegas shooting during the Route 91 Harvest concert talks about how they escaped the mass shooting on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017.
Nick Oza/The Republic

San Diego resident Matthew Edwards, 30, puts a teddy bear and flowers at the memorial site at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue. Edwards shared his feeling about the gunman who killed more than 50 people near Mandalay Bay hotel on Oct. 1. “I cannot understand what has happened here. I cannot understand what would drive a man to do what he did,” he said.
Nick Oza/The Republic

A man stands outside Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where 120 victims were treated for gun-related injuries and 14 people died following the Las Vegas shooting on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017. Officials said they expect those numbers to rise on Oct. 2, 2017.
Nick Oza/The Republic

Gunman Stephen Paddock, 64, was found dead by officers who stormed his 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, said Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, who announced the death toll Monday and said it could rise. photo by Nick Oza/ The Republic
nick oza, Photo by Nick Oza/The Republic

At least 58 people were shot to death at a country music concert near Mandalay Bay on Sunday evening, October 1, 2017. The Route 91 Harvest country music festival ended in tragedy after a gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the hotel after knocking out the windows in his room.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

The two windows that gunman Stephen Paddock shot through, killing 58 people attending the Route 91 Harvest country music festival, can still be seen at Mandalay Bay, Wednesday,morning, October 4, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

The 32nd-floor window that gunman Stephen Paddock stood from, killing 59 people and injuring at least 515 during a country music concert near Mandalay Bay on Sunday evening, October 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Police still man a roadblack across from the Mandalay Bay resort on Las Vegas Blvd, Wednesday, October 4, 2017. A mass shooting killed 58 people on Sunday night at a country music festival.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Jones stands at a roadblock on Las Vegas Blvd. and Sunset Road with Mandalay Bay in the background Monday morning, October 2, 2017. At least 58 people were shot to death at a country music concert near Mandalay Bay, Sunday evening, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Police men stand at a roadblock on Las Vegas Blvd. near Mandalay Bay Monday morning, October 2, 2017. At least 58 people were shot to death at a country music concert near Mandalay Bay, Sunday evening, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Police stand at a roadblock on Las Vegas Blvd. at Sunset Road with Mandalay Bay in the background Monday morning, October 2, 2017. At least 58 people were shot to death at a country music concert near Mandalay Bay, Sunday evening, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Police stand at a roadblock on Las Vegas Blvd. at Sunset Road with Mandalay Bay in the background Monday morning, October 2, 2017. At least 58 people were shot to death at a country music concert near Mandalay Bay, Sunday evening, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Police allow a vehicle to pass a roadblock on Las Vegas Blvd. near Mandalay Bay Monday morning, October 2, 2017. At least 58 people were shot to death at a country music concert near Mandalay Bay, Sunday evening, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Police allow a vehicle to pass a roadblock on Las Vegas Blvd. near Mandalay Bay Monday morning, October 2, 2017. At least 58 people were shot to death at a country music concert near Mandalay Bay, Sunday evening, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Police stand at a roadblock on Las Vegas Blvd. at Sunset Road with Mandalay Bay in the background Monday morning, October 2, 2017. At least 58 people were shot to death at a country music concert near Mandalay Bay, Sunday evening, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Police stand at a roadblock on Las Vegas Blvd. at Sunset Road with Mandalay Bay in the background Monday morning, October 2, 2017. At least 58 people were shot to death at a country music concert near Mandalay Bay, Sunday evening, Oct. 1, 2017.
Tom Tingle/The Republic